Wednesday 19 February 2020

Wave of climate litigation ‘now sweeping the world’

A wave of climate litigation is sweeping the world as ordinary people and local authorities take their national governments and multinational corporations to court for damaging the planet and human health.

That's the suggestion from Tessa Khan, Co-director of the Climate Litigation Network, who spoke to future Net Zero at the organisation's ‘Countdown to COP’ event in London earlier this month.

Actions against national governments are already happening in India, Columbia, Ireland, Switzerland, Germany, France, the US and Canada - the Netherlands has already been ordered to reduce emissions by an absolute amount in a case last December.

She said climate litigation holds countries to account for breaking binding commitments to take responsibility for the emissions their territory is responsible for and notes its role in society is likely to increase as the ramifications of global warming become more evident in future years.